Ponderano ( Pondran [pʊn'draŋ] in Piedmontese, the local dialect ) is a municipality in the province of Biella, Piedmont, northwestern Italy. Neighbouring comuni include Borriana, Gaglianico, Mongrando, Occhieppo Inferiore and Sandigliano.

According to tradition, the toponym of Ponderano comes from the Latin expression pondere aurum, in reference to a ponderarium, a place for weighing gold-bearing metals, with official certifications.

According to a different hypothesis, it comes instead from a Pons Aerianus, in turn derived from the personal name Aerius or Herius

The oldest mention of Ponderano dates back to the year 882, March 16, the date of a document with which the emperor Charles the Fat gave the church of Saint Eusebius, in the person of Littuardo, bishop of Vercelli, the "grand court" of Biella, to which Ponderano belonged with all its appurtenances areas.

In the first feudal period the village was part of the Vercelli committee. It appears in an imperial diploma of 988, with which the emperor Otto III confirmed the possession of the area to Manfredo of Cavaglià, son of Ajmone, count of Vercelli, who had already obtained the courts of Ponderano and of the territories surrounding Biella from Otto I for an exchange made with the diocese of Vercelli.